4 teachers killed in accident
Panchkula, April 3
Four teachers were killed while 11 others were seriously injured when the maxi cab they were travelling in collided head-on with a truck on the Panchkula-Barwala road near Nada Sahib village here today.

Grieving relatives at the General Hospital in Panchkula on Thursday.
— Tribune photo by Parvesh Chauhan

Moving coffins
Panchkula, April 3
Apart from today’s accident that was caused by an overloaded maxi cab, nine lives were lost about eight months ago when a maxi cab rammed into a tree. The vehicle was carrying 26 passengers at the time of the mishap.

Ambulances not used to shift injured
Panchkula, April 3
The accident has revealed the lack of coordination between various wings of the administration.
Due to poor coordination between the health and police authorities, the three
ambulances lying with the Civil Hospital could not be used to take the injured
to hospital.

PU students’ turn to evaluate teachers
Chandigarh, April 3
The department of laws, Panjab University, is set to turn a new leaf. It is now the turn of students to evaluate their teachers, courtesy a students’ overall evaluation of programme and teaching.

No model bus stand, this
Chandigarh, April 3
The ISBT-43, which the Chandigarh administration intends to make a model bus stand, lacks even basic facilities.
Though it caters to thousands of Punjab and Himachal-bound commuters daily, it has no canteen, no cloakroom and no adequate seating and board and lodging arrangements.
In the absence of a canteen, passengers and transport staff of long route buses cannot get meals here. Those who have to catch buses for other stations also face a lot of problems.

A locked eating joint at the ISBT-43, Chandigarh.
— A Tribune photograph

Rain brings cheer
Chandigarh, April 3
A western disturbance in Pakistan brought a change in the weather in the
northern areas today. The plains of Punjab and Haryana had rain overnight,
bringing cheer as temperature fell in the region. Chandigarh and its adjoining
areas experienced intermittent rain and received 3.2 mm of rainfall.

Immigration rules to ease out
Chandigarh, April 3
Immigration rules for certain professionals would soon be easier, with the governments of Canada, Australia and the UK all set to bring in a fresh legislation upon classifying prospective immigrants in terms of their requirements.

Election reforms a continuous process: Chawla
Chandigarh, April 3
It was an unusual experience for the university fraternity to interact with Navin B. Chawla, election commissioner, who delivered a special lecture on “Election Reforms” at Panjab University here today. Chawla talked about the micro-management of the Election Commission and its gradual improvement with every election. He informed that the commission was planning to initiate steps in vulnerability mapping and of having mobile booths where people did not have to travel distances to cast their vote.

Anganwadi workers hold protest
Chandigarh, April 3
Anganwadi workers and helpers from across Punjab held a massive protest in front of the office of director Social Security, Women and Child Development, Punjab, Sector 34, here today.
The irate protestors were demanding immediate release of the pay of 1,500
workers, which has been withheld for the past over three months.

Anganwadi workers protest in front of the office of director social security
in Chandigarh on Thursday. A Tribune photograph

MC Development Projects
Info hard to find, rue Hallo Majra residents
Chandigarh, April 3
Residents of Hallo Majra village rue that the municipal corporation is providing no information regarding development projects to be carried out in the village.

Hoax calls keep cops guessing
Chandigarh, April 3
Hoax calls are keeping the Chandigarh Police on its toes. At least four such calls have been received in less than a week and the police has failed to trace even a single caller so far. The Mani Majra police was yesterday made to check every guesthouse in the area after a hoax call. The control room received a call in the morning saying that a girl from Himachal had been tied up in a guesthouse by some group.

Tribune Impact
GMSH-16 to replace fire extinguishers
Chandigarh, April 3
After The Tribune reported about the slack approach of the Government Multi Speciality Hospital-16 authorities regarding refilling the fire extinguishers on its premises, all expired fire extinguishers have been removed from the hospital. Around 80 fire extinguishers have been sent for refilling.

BJP to redress public grievances
Mohali, April 3
Punjab chief parliamentary secretary Jagdish Sawhney yesterday stated
that the BJP had started a special project as part of which BJP MLAs would be available at the doorstep of the public to redress grievances.

Letters
Anomalies galore in pay commission
The defence chiefs met the defence minister to show their anguish and discontentment about the 6th pay commission. There are anomalies galore which need to be corrected. There is extreme shortage of officers in the three services yet enough capable youngsters are not opting for defence as a career.

UBS keeps MBA aspirants on tenterhooks
Chandigarh, April 3
MBA aspirants seeking admission to the UBS, Panjab University, do not know when their wait for admission to one of the top business schools of the region will be over. While the Panjab University authorities continue to sit over the file pertaining to the division of seats in the general category and the NRI category, the students are getting panicky and are thinking of applying for alternative B-schools.

From Schools & Colleges
Meritorious students honoured
Mohali, April 3
Students of Vidya Niketan High School, Phase I, who had brought laurels to the school, were honoured in a special function here. Social activist Anita Sharma was the chief guest. Principal Jyoti Sharma read out the annual report. The school has achieved 100 per cent pass percentage with all first divisions in Class V board examinations.

Administrator inaugurates school
Chandigarh, April 3
To upgrade and modernise the educational infrastructure, the Punjab Governor and Administrator, Chandigarh, Gen S.F. Rodrigues (retd) today inaugurated a three-storeyed building of Government Model High School at Mauli Jagran.

Tiny tots get warm welcome
Chandigarh, April 3
The new entrants were in for a unique rather traditional welcome at Kundan International School here today with a special Shala Pravesh Sanskar ceremony.

Unseasonal rain can harm wheat, mustard
Ropar, April 3
Unseasonal rain can affect wheat and mustard crop by increasing moisture content in grains and reducing yield.
While parts of Kharar witnessed rain on Wednesday night and Ropar in the day, weather continued to be cloudy at both places. The rain and wind has led to flattened wheat crop. Such a crop cannot be harvested using combine harvester but manually.

A farmer sits beside his crop that was damaged due to heavy rainfall in Patiala on Thursday.
A Tribune photograph

Woman’s death sparks row
Rajpura, April 3
Death of a newly wed girl under mysterious circumstances here today sparked a row when her parents alleged foul play. However, the deceased’s in-laws maintained that the girl had received an electric shock while working in the house that proved fatal.

Man held for attempt to rape 5-yr-old
Rajpura, April 3
The city police has registered a case against Satpal Singh, a resident of Guru Arjun Dev Colony, on the charge of attempting to rape a five-year-old girl.

Pregnant woman sustains severe burns
Kharar, April 3
Navneet Kaur (24), a resident of Teor village, sustained serious burns at her house last night after the stove she was cooking on burst. The police failed to recover any stove from the site of incident while her parents have alleged foul play.

One killed, 2 injured
as truck overturns
Kharar, April 3
One person was killed and two injured as a truck overturned on NH 21 today.
The incident took place at 7:30 am. An Indigo car was speeding on the highway when its right rear tyre suddenly got punctured and its driver applied brakes to stop it. A truck trailer
(PB 65 C 0357) was following the car. When car driver applied sudden brakes, the truck driver tried to save the car and overtook the vehicle from the wrong side.

The ill-fated truck that met with an accident in Kharar on Thursday morning.
A Tribune photograph

Rly overbridge to be six-laned
Patiala, April 3
With the proposed completion of the Rs 26 crore Railway overbridge on 21 number ‘phatak’ (railway crossing) within a month and with its upgradation into a six-lane bridge, commuters here can finally hope to get rid of frequent traffic jams.

Rs 730-cr district credit plan launched
Ropar, April 3
Ropar deputy commissioner B. Purushartha launched district credit plan of Rs 730.60 crore for Ropar district for the current year. UCO bank prepared this credit plan. Out of the total plan of Rs 730.60 crore, Rs 693.97 crore has been earmarked for priority sector. Special emphasis will be laid on agriculture and allied sector and Rs 507.82 crore has been earmarked for it. This constitutes 70 per cent of the total plan.

Coca Cola launches ‘Dhol De Bol’
Chandigarh, April 3
Keen to build a stronger rapport with young generation, global soft drinks Coca-Cola India, announced the launch of musical initiative 'Coco-Cola Dhol De Bol' for consumers across Punjab and Haryana. The new campaign will feature live performances of Punjabi artists in 10 towns of these two states.

PNB opens credit counselling centre
Chandigarh, April 3
With a view to make banking services and products easily accessible to common men in rural and urban populace, Punjab National Bank, today opened a Financial Education and Credit Counselling Centre at Sector 22-C. This centre will also counsel them about proper financial management taking advantage of organised lending avenues in debt resolution and to include the unbanked under privileged and disadvantaged masses into the financial main-stream.

Decision on fee today
Chandigarh, April 3
The hike in fee of the UT government schools will be by two-and-a-half times and not 100 per cent as proposed by the UT education department. Sources said the proposal to hike the school fee by 100 per cent had been put down by the officiating home secretary who had proposed a hike of two-and-a-half times. The new fee structure would be calculated tomorrow, said a senior UT official.

5-day exhibition on hues of nature
Chandigarh, April 3
A painter dips her brush to paint such pictures which give consolation to her soul. This phrase suits Dr Pushpa Dravid, mother of Indian cricketer, Rahul Dravid, every work of hers depicts human life, which has been appreciated by one and all. Her creation embedded in its own colour, leaves an everlasting impact on art lovers.

Dr Pushpa Dravid at her exhibition at Punjab Arts Council, Sector 16, in Chandigarh on Thursday. A Tribune photograph